Vulpes lagopus
Arctic fox

Arctic foxes are found in the treeless tundra extending through the arctic regions of Eurasia, North America, Greenland, and Iceland. (Angerbjörn, Hersteinsson, and Tannerfeldt, 2005)

Arctic foxes are found mainly in arctic and alpine tundra, usually in coastal areas.

The foxes live a communal and nomadic life, often forming small bands to scavenge the countryside for food. They do not hibernate during the winter months. Foxes also construct homes called dens, often in cliffs at least 1.6 km apart, in which a family social group inhabits. This group consists of one adult male, the litter, and two vixens--one of the vixens a nonbreeding animal born the previous year that stays to help care for the next litter. An arctic fox generally makes its den in a low mound 1-4 meters high in the open tundra, or in a pile of rocks at the base of a cliff. These dens have 4-8 entrances and a system of tunnels covering about 30 square meters. Some of these dens have been used for centuries by generations of foxes.

The arctic fox is an opportunistic feeder, eating practically any animal, alive or dead. Although it prefers small mammals, it will eat insects, berries, carrion, and even the stool of animals or human beings. Generally, its winter diet consists of marine mammals, invertebrates, sea birds, fish, and seals. For populations living more inland and in the summer, the diet consists mostly of lemmings. During the summer months, when food is much more readily available, arctic foxes collect a surplus amount of food and carries it back to their dens, where it is stored under stones for later use.

In Iceland, arctic foxes sometimes take lambs from sheep flocks. Farmers have been encouraged since the late thirteenth century to shoot and/or kill these predators in order to protect their livestock.

The fur of the arctic fox is prized by the fur industry, and these foxes have been intensively trapped. On the Pribiloff Islands of Alaska, arctic foxes have been regularly farmed for their fur since 1865, and they have long been important to the economy of the native people living withing their range.

The arctic fox has been driven out of some regions, such as northern Scandinavia, because of predators like the red fox. The arctic fox has been hunted by humans for its pelt, and also hunted in Iceland because of being a pest to sheep farmers. Humans also keep arctic foxes in captivity in fur farms. Nevertheless, populations have remained relatively stable.

The arctic fox's paws are sheathed in dense fur during the winter,unlike other canids and giving it the name " lagopus" (which means " the rabbit footed"). The fur of the arctic fox changes twice every year. The winter fur is entirely white, and the summer coat ranges from grey to brown on the back, to somewhat lighter on the belly. Foxes may retain their darker coat throughout the year in areas of less severe climate.